As mentioned in the Austin Dillon preview, Richard Childress Racing will scale back to a two-car operation for the 2018 season, which is probably going to end up paying dividends. For being considered one of the better organizations in NASCAR, RCR is rarely in the discussion when it comes to top 5 finishes, let alone potential wins–although both Newman and Dillon did make it to victory lane in 2017.
Cup Series History
Ryan Newman is an established veteran in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, as the 2018 will be his 17th full-time season racing. “The Rocketman” will also turn 40 years old this year, and you have to wonder whether or not he’s starting to consider retirement. Overall, Newman has also been a consistent performer but rarely a “flashy” one; he hasn’t had double-digit top 5 finishes in a season since 2004, and hasn’t had more than one win a season since then either. Last year Newman was able to get to victory lane at Phoenix, but that was more due to a pit strategy move late in the race than anything else–and also his only win in the last four years.
Predictions for the Upcoming Season
Unfortunately for the #31 team, 1.5-mile tracks make up a majority of the Cup Series schedule because they were awful on them in 2017. Beyond awful, really. Newman did come home 10th at the finale in Homestead, but even then his overall average finish on that track length was 25th. To put that into perspective, drivers like Landon Cassill, David Ragan, Danica Patrick, A.J. Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, and Ty Dillon all performed better than Newman on that track type last season despite having considerably worse equipment and/or talent.
Overall Expectations: Ryan Newman’s on 1.5-mile tracks last season should be a major red flag for Fantasy NASCAR players. However, there is a positive way to consider: what are the chances that “The Rocketman” and the #31 team are that bad two years in a row? I’d say pretty unlikely. Newman was still able to manage an average finish of 15.8 during the entire course of 2017, and if he’s able to maintain similar results on non-1.5-mile tracks, and improve his average finish on 1.5-mile tracks to the high teens, Newman could be looking at an average result of 13.8–which is pretty close to the mark he set in 2014 (12.7) when he almost stole the championship.
Can Ryan Newman win a Cup Series race in 2018? In total, Ryan Newman has 18 career victories in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Unfortunately, 12 of those came before the 2006 season. As we saw last year, though, the Richard Childress Racing cars aren’t afraid to gamble during races, and that can definitely turn into surprise wins. Chances are, “The Rocketman” won’t get to victory lane in 2018, but if he does it’s probably going to be at a flat track–or possibly at Daytona or Talladega if the new Chevrolet Camaros are as strong as the garage is saying they are.
Ryan Newman as a Fantasy Option in 2018
DraftKings: In 2017, Newman was often priced a little too high to be much of an option in DraftKings, and you can expect that to happen once again in 2018. The problem with “The Rocketman” is that he rarely gets any dominator points, and he is typically a pretty good qualifier. When you add those three aspects together, there are only a handful of races that he’s a viable option with the DraftKings Fantasy NASCAR format.
Season-Long Salary Cap Games: As mentioned in my Austin Dillon preview, I think Richard Childress Racing’s scale-down in 2018 is going to pay dividends for both of their drivers. And as far as history is concerned, Newman has a much better overall record than Austin Dillon, even in the last four years when you can really compare them. The problem with Ryan Newman is that he’s not going to go out and post a bunch of finishes in the top 10, but at the same time, he’s pretty reliable for solid finishes in the teens. That can pay major dividends in season-long salary cap games.
